It's been awhile since I did a “Sunday Snapshot” post…thought I'd get back into the habit of sharing a little more of “personal me”, with you all, in pictures (sorry for the cell phone pics, next week I'll use my camera).
Yesterday, we made a road trip north, to visit Tom's brother, sister-in-law and our adorable niece.
After a sweaty workout and a quick shower, I was dressed and ready to go. Sorry for the gross bathroom pic… it's all I got though. Bummed too, because the outfit is from my favorite store, a pair of cropped jeggings and a tiered tunic with some cute wedges.
We stopped in the Life Cafe at the gym (it was my brilliant idea) to get coffee, water and lunch for the road. Way better than stopping somewhere along the way. I always feel better when I eat healthy food, don't you?! This black Americano was my breakfast.
After the liter of water during my workout and a cup of coffee in the car, my bladder was full and the gas tank was empty. Good time to stop and fill up. Yikes! Can I tell you something? I am secretly okay with the high gas prices right now, as it limits the amount of driving, my newly-driver's-licensed son, is able to do in his own set of wheels. When you have to pay for your own gas it makes you think twice, right. Mean mom, I know.
Back on the road with my handsome pilot at the wheel. I'm co-pilot for now…I take my turn at the wheel in a bit. With a few hours in the car ahead of us, we tuned in to Sean Croxton's Sexy Back Summit and listened to my new favorite health expert Dr. Sara Gottfried. If you are a woman and you have hormones, highly recommend reading her book, The Hormone Cure. This week, with Tom working from home, we are employing one of her techniques…hugging 8x a day.
With getting a late start, we are about an hour behind schedule, so we decided we'd just take turns eating our “to-go” salads from the Life Cafe. My turn first…and I am hungry. We both got Mediterranean salads, I got avocado added to mine and Tom added extra chicken, vinaigrette for me, ranch for him.
I devoured my salad leaving a few olives and the tomatoes behind. Feeling still a bit peckish, I picked up some raw almonds when we made the driver's seat switch. I ate about half the bag and was satisfied.
I am now in the pilot seat, not a decent radio station to be had and the cell phone network is undetectable. I hand Tom my cell phone and tell him to take pictures. Notice how I make sure to take flattering pictures of him, meanwhile he catches me in “the act'. Just kidding this was staged. We got a good laugh out of it. I sang every song I could think of and told tales of my wild and crazy college days, while Tom ate his salad. What can I say, I am quite the entertainer.
Road construction and fog ahead, I'm still behind the wheel and Tom decides to take a nap. Say what?! I shocked him awake with a couple of loud “watch outs” and a quick jerk of the brake. That's Lake Superior on the right. The temp when we left the Twin Cities was close to 80, as we get close to our destination, the car says it is 49 degrees. Windy too.
I safely land us at our destination, where we spend the afternoon playing with this cutie patootie. Not only is she absolutely beautiful, but she's smart too! At just a year old, she knew how to put the shapes in the right hole on the toy she is playing with. I was amazed. I busted out my real camera to take pics (took lots) and dangit, they are all slightly out of focus (I am still learning how to use my new lens).
The time flew by and bad weather was in the forecast, so we packed it up and got back on the road. It was nearing dinner time, however, with some severe weather in our path, we decided to make a quick stop at a natural foods co-op for a snack to tide us over. We had our weekly Sunday date night with my parents on hold, but called and agreed to meet for a late dinner once we were back in the Twin Cities. With little “grab-n-go” to choose from, I picked egg salad (which btw was so overloaded with raw onions, it was disgusting and ended up going to waste), Tom grabbed some organic deli meat, shared the Kevita and each had a serving of dark chocolate.
Even the best of plans gets foiled sometimes…that was my thoughts when we had to pull over on the side of freeway due to a severe thunderstorm that was dumping rain like no one's business. I get scared, even in the co-pilot seat, driving in nasty weather. I insisted we pull over a few times and I had to close my eyes a few times. Sorry, no pic, it was blurry and dark. We did however make it safely back to the Twin Cities and while our boys were at Revolution (teen church) we met my parents for a late dinner. Build-a-burger for me and build-a-salad for Tom.
One final pic to capture our day…it was prompted by Tom (he wanted to Instagram). Spent the entire day together, most of it in the car, and we are still smiling. Must be true love. At dinner, my dad, bless his heart, teared up while sharing some wise words of wisdom about never taking your spouse for granted and making time for each other. My mom, who I've written about in the past, while she is still alive and breathing, is not the mom I grew up with (or the wife she once was). Her disease has left her confused, shaky, shuffling feet and unable to do basic living tasks. My dad is her full-time caretaker (along with some help from my oldest son who lives with grandpa and grandma).
After dinner we picked up one of our two boys from church (the other went home with grandpa and grandma) and headed home. Pulled into the driveway at 10pm, an hour past our bedtime. In the house, unpacked quickly, changed into our jammies, swallowed a few supplements and collapsed in bed by 10:15am.
